Everything You Should Know About the iPhone 6 and 6+
Should you upgrade to the iPhone 6 or 6+? This week, Tech Talker rounds up all the feature updates you should know about before you commit to a new phone.
For many of us in the tech world, September means a new release of an iPhone! And that’s exactly what happened at Apple’s Keynote last week when CEO Tim Cook announced the iPhone 6, 6+, and the Apple Watch. If you’re wondering what’s new with the latest line of Apple products and whether they’re right for you, you’re in luck because that’s exactly what I’ll be covering this week.
Generally the releases come in a major and minor revision. For example, there has traditionally been an “S” version such as 3GS, 4S and 5S, which are minor version upgrades with speed increases a few new features.
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Size
This year, however, was a major version change from the 5s/5c to the iPhone 6 and 6+. The most obvious difference in looking at the 6 and 6+ are their sizes. The iPhone 6 screen is larger than the iPhone 5s by a whopping 0.7 inches, and the iPhone 6+ is 1.5 inches larger at a total of 5.5 inches. It may not sound like much, but when you look at a mockup of how large it actually is, it’s gigantic!
If you don’t believe me check out this linkopens PDF file which has a printable size template of how large the phone actually is.
Screen
What I find especially crazy is that the iPhone 6+ has the same resolution as my computer monitor. It sports a 1920×1080 resolution screen in just 5.5 inches, which is full HD and extremely impressive. The 6 has a 1334×740 which is still impressive given its size. Even though the screens of this phone are higher resolution, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference since the screens pack the pixels in so tight it’s impossible to see them.
Battery
As expected, the new iPhones are both thinner than their predecessors. In my opinion, I would much rather have a thicker phone that had a larger battery than a few millimeters shaved off; however, Apple’s trend has always been towards thinner.
The iPhone 6 and 6+ boast better battery life and power management. The new A8 chip claims to be 25% faster, but 50% more energy efficient. The battery in both phones is bigger than that of their predecessors, which is to be expected given their huge screen size. But because the iPhone 6+ has a larger battery than the iPhone 6 does (to power its massive screen), it also has a slightly longer battery run time than the iPhone 6.
To put it into perspective, if you were watching a movie on your iPhone, the 5s would get 10 hours of video playback, the new iPhone 6 will get an advertised 11 hours of playback, and the iPhone 6+ will have about 14 hours of video playback.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s appear to have comparable battery lifespans, but the increase in lifespan of the iPhone 6+’s battery is a pretty large leap.
Barometric Sensor
The new phones also sport a brand new barometric sensor that allows you to see changes in air pressure around you. With the new sensor, you can accurately measure elevation changes which could be extremely useful in fitness apps. For example, let’s say you went on a tough bike ride with a lot of elevation change, or you were running up and down stadium stairs. With any previous iPhone this would not be mapped in a fitness app very well at all, but with the iPhone 6 and 6+, you can capture this third dimension in all your workouts.
I also foresee the barometric sensor being useful in weather apps which look for a change in the atmospheric pressure to detect storms. In travel apps, it could detect when you’ve taken off, and when your flight has landed. App developers will have access to this sensor so I’ll be really interested to see what applications they come up with.
Upgraded Radios
Because the new iPhones include a wider range of LTE bands and the Wi-Fi “ac” band, which is faster than “n,” we should also see an improvement in the communication speeds. This upgrade will allow users to make calls over Wi-Fi, which I think is pretty amazing for times when you’re stuck somewhere without cell service, but you do have access to Wi-Fi. Now you can make a call with your phone number instead of going through another app or service.
Better Camera
Next, let’s talk about the camera. Both models of the iPhone 6 have the ability to record video in 1080p at 60 frames per second. This will make for less blurry and more seamless videos. The cameras will also allow you to take slow motion video at 120fps and 240fps and even take a time-lapse video. The camera also has better image stabilization and allows for a giant 43 megapixel panorama.
NFC
Last but not least in the feature department comes NFC (Near Field Communication), which is used for mobile payments. NFC allows you to link your credit card with your phone so that when you want to pay for something at stores with Apple Pay installed, all you have to do is wave your phone over a sensor which will process the payment. You’ll need to use the fingerprint sensor for identification.
Google Wallet has tried to implement a similar system in the past, but it hasn’t become mainstream yet. With Apple Pay, though, I think that Apple may be able to finally pull it off. It will be really interesting to see how mobile payments develop over the next few months.
The one downside about NFC that I see, though, is that developers don’t appear to have access to the NFC controller, which means that you won’t be able to read, write, or pair with NFC devices or tags. This may have been left out of the announcement, so as not to detract from mobile payments, but I really hope they release it.
Price
So how much is this going to cost you?
Well, the 6+ will cost $299 for 16GB, $399 for 64GB, and $499 for 128GB. The 6 is exactly $100 cheaper than every storage size of its 6+ counterpart. The release has also pushed down the price of the iPhone 5s to $149 in case you’re not ready to shell out for a much larger phone. All of these quoted prices are with a two-year contract. If you want to buy it free and clear, expect to pay $450 more per phone up front.
Apple Watch
Along with their new phones, Apple also released a watch, which I’ll cover in more detail in an upcoming blog post.
With all this media excitement surrounding the new Apple products, I’m curious about what you think. Was there a certain feature you were looking for? Was the release awesome news or a bitter disappointment? How do you think this will compare to the next release of Google’s Nexus line? Shoot me an email or post on my Facebook page!
Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
iPhone 6 and 6+ images courtesy of Apple
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About the Author
Tech Talker demystifies technology and cutting edge devices so that even the most tech illiterate can understand what’s going on with their computer or gadget — and what to do when something goes wrong.
